Circles Never End
by SeraB
Summary: An answer to a challenge. PG13 for language and mild suggestive situation at the start. Akima/Cale story I thought I'd add to the very few out there! -First TAE fic not first fic though ! -FYI @ the end, it should be a lessthan3 heart not just a 3.


Pre-story notes: On a TAE fanfic list I'm on (PlanetBobFanFics@egroups.com), a "challenge" by a member, Birdy, was posted:: "Write a TAE fic involving an injury, a wooden chair, a sunset and a fire (not necessarily all at once). The rest is up to you!":: So, I decided I was up to this, and wrote the following story in 45 minutes, while watching TV (oh yes, multi-talented..LOL). The story will probably be retarded since I'm not so good at writing short stories, nor am I fond of reading short stories. Also, it gets *REAL* cheesy towards the end. But yeah..ok here ya go =) 

Warning: Suggestive theme at the very start..don't worry it's quick and painless ;) There is some..language in this story. Tons of commas in this story too...oh well! *L*

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Circles Never End

By: Stina ([mailto:MissStinaBeena@aol.com][1])

Date: 7/31/00

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Cale! Cale!" 

Cale grinned, "Oh yeah, Akima.."

"CALE!" 

"Akima.."

He smelled smoke, "Oooh..candles..kinky.." he thought.

"Cale!"

"Oh yeah.."

"CAAAALLLLEEEE!"

And with that his world shook--

Cale's eyes snapped open,"Huh,wha--?! When did I fall asleep?........and *groan* why did you wake me up?" Cale smirked slightly at the thought of his dream then rubbed the back of his neck, it was sore, and looked about, slightly confused, still in the daze of sleep...then it hit him.

"OoOoWwWw..oh SHIT..ohh..dammnnn!!!" Cale jumped up and down, "Help me! Go get water..something..oh F-!!"

In his haze of pain, he started beating his pant leg, trying to put the fire out, which just resulted in-- "OHHHH SHIITTT...bad,bad...!!" he now was blowing on his hands while trying to get his pant leg to stop flaming. 

Akima came running in with a pitcher of water, "Where do I throw it?!" she looked from his leg, to the chair to the wire on the floor, all of which were burning. Since Cale couldn't quite answer, she decided to try to get it all in one pop.

"NOT ON THE WIRE...you'll ruin my baby!" Cale had a brief moment of clairity.

Akima threw the water on his leg, which splattered onto the chair, stopping both fires.

"Cale, what are you gonna do about this wire?", small, extremely hot, blue and white sparks still flew from it.

"Damn it..damn.." the only thing he could think of was to step on it. 

Akima watched with one eye open, expecting his foot to blow up next. The crackling got slower and slower until it made a final fizzing sound.

"Are you alright, Cale?" Akima immediately went for his leg. (Author's Note: sounds like she wants to eat it.."I GET THE LEG!" ..lol..uh nevermind..)

"I think I'm burned.."

Akima kept herself from rolling her eyes, "Really, Einstein?"

"I'm hurt and you're still being a bitch."

Akima glared at him and sighed, "Come with me to the med room so I can fix you up and I'll explain.."

Cale leaned on Akima's shoulder heavily and they made their way to the room where she was almost the community doctor, for minor injuries at least. 

"Sit." she said.

Cale sat up on the cold,metal table.

Akima pulled his burnt leg towards her, "What happened, Cale? How did that fire start?"

"I..ow..--" Akima tried to pry his melted pants off his skin, "I don't know..I..I was working on the Tucker Propulsion Unit and I guess..I guess I fell asleep and left the wire." he shook his head, "I don't know what's wrong with it, I hope it's not too damaged. I told you that wooden chair wasn't so great..made my neck sore too...I shouldn't have made it...fires...that's why there aren't chairs made of wood anymore. How long is this gonna take?, I've gotta go back and see what's wrong with the TPU."

"Cale.." Akima sighed, still working on his leg, "when you made that for me--the chair--" she added, seeing his confused look "..it made me so happy. It was like having old Earth on new Earth--"

"Bob." he mumbled

"What was that?"

"It's Bob." 

Akima gave him an exasperated stare, until Cale's grin broke through, "Gotcha." 

Akima rolled her eyes, and contined to apply gooey ointment to Cale's leg, "Anyways, not only that but...it showed that you cared about me."

"Oh really, I thought that you wouldn't care about that anymore, considering how you've been acting lately."

Akima gave him the death stare, "I can not believe you even said that."

"What? What are you talking about?"

"Ok, Cale, you wanna know what MY problem is? My problem is the way YOU'VE been acting. How dare you even say *I* am the one acting different. You locked in that damn lab room all day and all night, coming out only for food, I don't know how the hell you piss..got a bucket in there or somehing! ..working on your new little invention, that damn propulsion unit that'll probably never work. And look what happened. You fell asleep..you fucking fell asleep! YOU NEED TO COME OUT OF THERE..YOU NEED TO SLEEP...YOU NEED...TO...Be..with..me!" she finished wrapping his leg with a self-adhesive bandage(AN: that's probably not a good idea on a burn but oh well, I'm making this as I go along..who cares).

"Akima..um..that's a little ti--"

"And you don't even like me anymore, you call me a bitch when I could have let you burn..and oohhh buddy, I *so* wanted to.." Akima ranted on.

"Akima..it hurts..--"

"..all you want me for is food and you scare the shit outta me with this fire--"

Cale's voice was a squeak now, "Akima..the bandage..it's tight.."

Akima grabbed onto the bandage, still going on, "...remind you to come out and *bathe*, and the damn chair is broken!" she ripped the bandage off and threw it onto the ground, then left the room, not wanting Cale to see the tears threatening her.

Cale yelped, with all the improvements in the medical field over the years, one thing had stayed the same, band-aids still hurt like hell when you take them off, "Akima wait!" but she was gone, as he could tell by the front door slamming closed.

He slammed his fist down on the table, "Damn!" He put his fingers to his head and massaged his temples before taking a deep breath and bandaging himself quickly..he had something important to do.

* * *

Akima walked quickly through the streets and made her way to the large gym, where she liked to beat on the punching bags, it was total therapy for her. She punched and fumed for hours until she was all out of steam.

* * *

At the same time, Cale went out into the city to gather some supplies for a new invention, then locked himself in the lab again and lost himself in his new project..this one had to be perfect, and done today.

* * *

Akima came home, a little calmer, and ready to possibly apologize.

"Cale? Cale? Where are you? Cale?" then it hit her, "Oh you little...you better not be in that lab!" she stormed down the hall of their pretty good-sized house, going towards the back of it, to find him where she thought he was. Akima pounded on the door, "You ASS! I can not believe you even have the nerve to go back into that room after all I just told you. Don't you understand? I need you OUT HERE!"

Cale smiled inside the lab, "Go to your room, Akima, I'll be out in about an hour...don't come out until I say so."

"OH! So now you're telling me where I'm supposed to go? Oh yes, master. Ugh, you disgust me!" and she stormed off to...well, she didn't quite know where to go, so she went to her room.

* * *

~an hour later~

Cale brought his new invention out on the deck, where it belonged. His determination on this project had him finish it perfectly and beautifuly in less time than he thought. He smiled at it and checked it for any last tweaks he needed to do. None. Perfect. He looked at his watch, " 6:59 p.m. Yeah,perfect."

"Akima.." Cale pressed the "beep" button on the panel next to her door, "Akima? Please come out..I owe you an apology.."

Akima sighed and got off her bed and pressed the button to open her door, "Yes?" she said,drily, "Why aren't you on your knees?"

"Ha. Ha. Ha. Seriously, Akima..come with me.." he held out his hand, Akima just looked at it, "fine then..would you at least follow me?"

"Alright."

As they walked towards the deck, Cale talked, "Akima I'm sorry for...not paying attention to you, I just..I think the TPU will really work..I think this is the one. And..you know how much I love to tinker with things and I lose track of time in there..not that I love it more than you but.." he sighed, "I don't know. Okay?" they stopped in the foyer that was just before the door to the front porch, Cale turned to Akima, "I made a mistake and I'm sorry. I know that nothing will replace the chair..I didn't know that you liked it that much--"

"Cale, you don't understand, it's not just the chair, it's the reason you made it for me, because I told you how much I loved the chair that my Grandmother had on Earth..and you tried to make one like it, because you cared for me so much.." she shook her head, "at least I thought so."

"I do care for you Akima. And I really am sorry...really." he looked into her eyes, "Now don't say anything more...come with me." he held out his hand once again and this time Akima took it.

Cale opened the door, peeked out then turned to Akima, "close your eyes."

Akima's face was covered in suspicion, "What are you up to, Cale?"

"I want to show you my newest project..." Cale said while Akima groaned, "you'll like it, I promise. Don't worry."

"Hah..you say that to me right after you've had this little fire mishap?"

Cale looked at her, "Trust me."

Akima thought for a moment, "Fine." and she shut her eyes.

Cale took a moment to study her face and how beautiful she was to him before leading her out the door. He brought her over to his newest project and whispered "sit down." 

Akima sat, as Cale watched her eyebrows wrinkle in thought, "Cale..what..?" she opened her eyes slowly.

Cale looked at her nervously, "Do you like it?"

Akima skimmed her hand over the swinging bench that Cale had fashioned from old Earth-catolog pictures, and she pushed it back and forth with her feet, "Oh Cale..you did this today? For me..?"

He nodded, "mmhhmmm..yeah. I..I felt really bad about the chair..and for not spending time with you. I thought we could sit out here together every day..just me and you..no lab." he smiled.

Akima looked at him, "Promise?"

"Promise. Hey, I left a little mark on here, so it's original and no one else on Bob could ever have one like this...look at the arm rest on your side over there."

Akima glanced over and saw a carving, she looked closer, smiling at what she saw: in a circle was carved "Cale 3 Akima".

"Oh Cale.."

"Wanna know why it's in a circle and not a heart?"

She could only nod, as her breath was taken away by this man that was hers. 

"Someone on Old Earth once said, 'Never write the name of the one you love in a heart, but in a circle; because hearts can be broken but circles last forever.'"

Akima smiled, rubbed her eyes a little ("it's only an itch") and leaned into Cale, as he put his arm around her, they swang back and forth a little bit, the squeak it made was strangely comforting.

"Look.." he whispered in her ear and pointed at the horizon. There was a sunset, it was one of the most beautiful ones they had ever seen. Not because of the bright orange hues and the bold purples, but because it came out at a perfect time. And to this they shared a kiss.

THE END! [Awwwww! ;)]

Feedback, baby, FEEDBACK! =)

-Stina-

~Cale's Comfortess #1- A proud member of Cale's Comfort Team!~

   [1]: mailto:MissStinaBeena@aol.com



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